Funchal Cable Cars: Monte, Botanical Garden and Beyond

Funchal has two cable cars that most visitors use: the big one from the old town seafront up to Monte, about 15 minutes and €16 one way in 2026, and a second that carries on from Monte across the valley to the Botanical Garden. Elsewhere on the island, three small cable cars drop to the sea at Garajau, Rancho (below Cabo Girão) and Achadas da Cruz. All of them close from time to time, for maintenance or for wind, so check before you build a day around one.

In short

• Funchal to Monte: 15 minutes, about 560 m of climb, €16 one way and €22 return in 2026. Open again since April 2026, now with glass-floor cabins.
• Monte to the Botanical Garden: nine minutes across the valley, €11 one way and €16 return in 2026. Combine the two for a loop.
• Garajau, Rancho and Achadas da Cruz: short, cheap drops down cliffs to the sea.
• Closures happen. The Monte line was shut from January to early April 2026 for an upgrade. Wind stops them all.
• Queues are worst from 10:00 on sunny days with cruise ships in port.

Madeira’s cable cars compared

Funchal to Monte

This is the one everyone means by “the Funchal cable car”. It leaves from a station at the eastern end of Avenida do Mar, beside the old town, and climbs over the roofs, gardens and banana patches of the city to Largo das Babosas in Monte, about 560 metres higher. The ride takes around 15 minutes, and it runs every day except Christmas Day, 08:45 to 17:45. The cabins are enclosed, and the view back over the harbour opens out as you rise. Look down, too: you pass over back gardens, washing lines and a whole side of the city that the roads never show.

Glass floors. Since the spring 2026 upgrade, five of the 44 cabins have glass floors. They cost more, €26 one way or €32 return, and you look straight down onto the roofs.

Is it worth it? At €16 one way (half price for children aged 7 to 14, free under 7) it is not cheap, and some people feel the view is no better than from free viewpoints such as Pico dos Barcelos. For a couple or a family, a taxi up can cost less. But if you are going to Monte anyway, the ride is part of the day, and it is the easiest way up.

One way or return? Most people go up by cable car and come down another way: in a wicker toboggan to Livramento and then on foot, or walking the whole way. If you are doing that, buy one way. Buy a return only if you are sure you are coming straight back.

Beating the queue: be there when it opens, or go up after 15:00. Mid-morning on a sunny day with ships in port is the worst time. More in beating the crowds.

At the top you are a few steps from Monte Palace Tropical Garden, the church and the toboggan start. Our Monte guide covers the half day in detail.

Monte to the Botanical Garden

From a station near the top of the Funchal line, a second cable car crosses the deep valley of the João Gomes river to the Jardim Botânico, the Madeira Botanical Garden, on the other side. It covers about 1.6 km in some nine minutes and runs daily except Christmas Day, 09:00 to 17:00 (last boarding 16:50). The crossing is the more dramatic of the two rides: the ground falls away steeply beneath you. In 2026 it costs €11 one way and €16 return for adults, €6 and €9 for children aged 7 to 14, and nothing under 7. Booking online takes 10% off.

The Botanical Garden is a very different garden from Monte Palace. It is a scientific collection laid out in terraces, with Madeira’s native and endemic plants, succulents, a bird park and a view over the city. Since January 2026 it has been free for Madeira residents. Visitors still pay: it was €10 for adults until the end of 2025, so check the 2026 price at the gate.

A good loop: cable car from Funchal to Monte, a morning in Monte, cable car across to the Botanical Garden, then a bus or taxi back down into town. The garden’s cable car sells a ticket that includes garden entry: €19 one way or €24 return for adults in 2026.

The cable cars to the sea

Madeira’s cliffs made a different kind of cable car necessary. Farmers built them to reach the fajãs, patches of flat land at the foot of the cliffs, and some now carry visitors too. They are short, cheap and far less crowded than the Funchal lines.

Garajau

East of Funchal, beneath the statue of Christ the King at Cristo Rei do Garajau, a small cable car, opened in 2007, drops to the pebble beach in the Garajau marine reserve, one of the best snorkelling spots on the south coast. At the bottom there is a snack bar and a diving centre. It runs from 10:00 to 20:00 in summer and to 18:00 in winter. The fare is modest, but we could not find a current published price, so check at the top. The alternative is a steep path down, and a steeper one back up.

Rancho, Câmara de Lobos

West of Funchal, below Cabo Girão, one of the highest sea cliffs in Europe, the Rancho cable car goes down to the Fajãs do Cabo Girão: tiny terraced fields and a few houses at the bottom of the cliff that have no road. Our West Coast drive passes Cabo Girão and tells the story of the terraces.

Achadas da Cruz

In the far north-west, the Achadas da Cruz cable car drops almost straight down the cliff to a strip of fields and stone huts by the sea. It is often called the steepest cable car in Europe, and it feels like it. The council charges €3 one way and €5 return, with reductions for over-65s and students. The ride takes about five minutes. The Far West drive stops at the top.

When the cable cars close

All of them stop running from time to time. Before you plan a day around one, check that it is running.

• Maintenance. The big lines close for servicing from time to time, sometimes for a few days, once in 2026 for three months. There is not always much notice.
• Wind. All cable cars stop in strong wind, sometimes for a few hours, sometimes for the day. The small cliff cable cars are the most exposed.
• Holidays. Hours are shorter on some public holidays. See Sundays, holidays and opening hours.

Dated notes

• 5 January to early April 2026: the Funchal to Monte cable car closed for its biggest upgrade in 25 years (about €4.5 million): a new main cable and motor, two new towers, and 44 cabins instead of 39, five with glass floors. It reopened in early April.
• 20 to 24 July 2026: the Monte line stopped again for maintenance, with a replacement shuttle.
• End of September 2026: the operator lists normal daily hours.

If it is ever closed when you visit, take the bus or a taxi up to Monte. The garden and the toboggans are not affected.

We add a note here each time a closure is announced.

Whichever way you get up there, the Tropi Guide app’s audio tours pick up the story of Funchal back at sea level, a few steps from the lower station.